


All That I Say, You Always Say More

by least_common_variant



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, Past Kent Parson/Jack Zimmermann
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-12 07:15:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7925527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/least_common_variant/pseuds/least_common_variant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Jack and Kent do not bury the hatchet before their first meeting on the ice</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pre-Game

**Author's Note:**

> Check, Please! and its characters are by the incomparable Ngozi Ukazu. I take the blame for everything else.

The theme music fades away. The men behind the desk, paid to talk, begin to do so.

"Hi, I'm Ron Chatterly."

"And I'm Jimmy McDermott, and this is _NHL This Week_. Ed, you know there's just one thing on everybody's minds about this week's action coming up - Wednesday night the Las Vegas Aces are going to meet the Providence Falconers on the ice."

"You're so right, Jimmy. Kent Parson and Jack Zimmermann on opposite sides - we've been waiting for this moment for six months, since Zimmermann signed with the Falconers."

"Except some of us have been waiting for it for six years, when it became clear there was no way Parson and Zimmermann were going to go to the same team in the draft. We asked them for their thoughts."

They cut away to pre-recorded video. A blond man in his mid-twenties, helpfully captioned "Kent Parson - Captain, Las Vegas Aces".

"Jack always inspired me to be a better player, when we were on the same line years ago. I hope he still does from across the ice. But on the other hand, this has to be just one more game. We're just here to play hockey, you can't bring personal feelings onto the ice."

Another cut, to a dark-haired man also in his mid-twenties, helpfully captioned "Jack Zimmermann - Providence Falconers". He speaks with a bit of a French-Canadian accent.

"Playing beside Kent, he always made me a better player, and he was my best friend off the ice. But we're not the first pair who were best friends in juniors to end up on opposite sides of a faceoff circle, eh? This game isn't about me and him, it's about the Falconers and the Aces. We're going to play our best game, everyone on both teams is, and the best team is going to win."

They cut back to Ron and Jimmy. Ron begins talking again. "So you can see Parson and Zimmermann are downplaying the significance of this game, but it's got to be weighing on their minds. They were the best pair to come out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in the past decade. Maybe ever... but as you know, they went their separate ways after the 2009 draft, with Parson becoming a dominant player in the NHL and Zimmermann taking some time off and eventually going into the NCAA. This is going to be the first real test of whether that was a wise decision on Zimmermann's part, when the hockey world is finally going to get to make a direct comparison between the two of them."

Jimmy agrees. "It's going to be really interesting to see how these two men fare on the ice against each other. In other games to keep an eye on this week, Colorado is going up against.."

Jack Zimmermann, Providence Falconers, presses the button on the remote that turns the television off. He chooses not to react to the observation that his hand is shaking as he does it, instead thinking, "at least we both had the same thought about what to say to the media." He sets the remote down, instead, and boots up his laptop for his nightly Skype with Eric.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (minor edit: I was reminded that the announcers who have appeared in the comic have names. I used those instead.)


	2. The First Period

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing this well before I had any idea the LVA @ PVD game was going to feature in this batch of updates, for what it's worth. The updates may have shifted my course slightly, but it was always the story of a Kent and Jack who can't even be good opponents, much less good friends.
> 
> Thanks to [tiptoe39](http://archiveofourown.org/users/tiptoe39) for helping me clarify my thoughts and work past an obstacle.

On Tumblr, user parsermann_fangirl makes a brief post: "Is this how Mulder/Scully shippers feel about the revival series coming on? I've got a dozen reunion plot bunnies hopping around in my head rn. BTW my fics from 2009 are still on my old lj, same username."

A few other users respond approvingly. One comments that she remembers reading some of those fics back in the day. More fics are recommended. Another user scolds everyone for shipping real people, as is only to be expected on Tumblr.

At the arena in Providence, the pre-game warmup skate finishes up and the teams start clearing off the ice to let the Zamboni do its work. A photographer from the Providence Courier catches Kent Parson and asks if he can get a photo of him with Jack Zimmermann. He seems agreeable to this. Zimmermann begs off, saying he needs to get ready. The photographer shrugs, mentally. Pictures of the two of them actually playing hockey will work better for the story anyways. He does not see the scowl on Parson's face as Zimmermann skates away.

In the locker rooms, coaches and captains go through the evening's strategy. The players make their own pre-game preparations. Jack checks inside his lunch pail for a yellow post-it note, with a message on it reading "So proud of you, win or lose." It is signed, sort of, with a heart and a sketch of a bunny. Kent rolls his lucky poker chip back and forth along his knuckles until he deems himself to be Ready, then dons the last few pieces of his uniform.

On Twitter, user @badbobzimm makes a post: "Both my boys are gonna do great tonight, but I know where my heart is #GoFalcs #LVAvPVD"

In Samwell, Massachusetts, Twitter user @omgcheckplease favorites that tweet, adds his own comment that "#SMHockey has your back, Jack! #GoFalcs #LVAvPVD", and then squeezes onto a disreputable-looking green couch alongside three other, much larger, young men. A young woman stretches out along their collective laps. She is, fortunately, tiny. She is also in command of the remote. She turns the television on and switches to the channel carrying the game.

In the press booth, the announcers, men paid to talk, begin talking.

"Good evening, hockey fans! We're going to be getting started here in just a few minutes. I'm Ron Chatterly, and I've got Jimmy McDermott with me tonight to help out with the play-by-play. Jimmy, how do you expect things to go tonight?"

"Well, Ron, I have to say the Falconers are the clear underdogs - they made it to the playoffs last year for only the second time in club history, but they're going up against an Aces team that's got a Stanley Cup under their belt and has their eye on a second one. I honestly think Parson and the Aces are going to come out on top here - he hasn't just been going up against the best in the NHL, he's been the best in the NHL, if you look at his numbers for the last several seasons, while Zimmermann's been playing against a bunch of Ivy League and Ivy League wannabe college teams. He's having a great rookie season, but there's no way he's kept pace. And the teams have taken the ice, here we go with the National Anthem."

In lieu of singing along, one of the young men on the disreputable green couch blurts out, "Fuck you too, Jimmy." The other young men agree, in a chorus of "yeah, you tell 'em, Rans, fuck you too", with a solo "bless his heart" from the young man with the Twitter. The young woman flips the bird at the TV.

The Anthem over, the players and referees take their places for the opening faceoff. Zimmermann, as the starting center, takes his place opposite the Aces' center. Parson skates by to his own position on the left wing. As he passes Zimmermann, he grins at him, and asks, "Didja miss me, Zimms?"

The lineman drops the puck.

Jack hesitates, just for a fleeting instant. No one but Kent Parson, who spent two years in his teens practicing face-offs against Jack Zimmermann on top of spending the past week reviewing every moment of tape he could find of Zimmermann, would have ever noticed it, but Parson does. The Aces claim control of the puck, and start the game on offense.

Jack notices something as well: the particular clench of Kent Parson's hands on his stick. There was a time when, seeing that, he would have patted Kent on the shoulder, and reassured him, "Don't worry, Kenny. We've got this." But now is not that time. He says nothing, and skates off into the fray.

Play progresses. Lines switch out and back. Assorted players on the ice hear Parson continue to chirp Zimmermann.

"Miss me like you missed that faceoff?"

"Miss me like you missed that pass?"

"Miss me like you missed that shot?"

Zimmermann continues to hesitate. Other people begin to notice.

Ron Chatterly comments, "It looks like Zimmermann did not bring his A game tonight, Jimmy. This is not the caliber of play we've come to expect from him." Jimmy agrees. "The Aces are definitely shutting him down."

The young men and woman on the couch grumble.

Six minutes and forty-one seconds into the game, one of the Aces gets the puck to Parson and Parson gets the puck past Matt "Snowy" Snowden, the Falconers' goalie.

The teams set up for the face-off. As Parson skates by, it's Zimmermann's turn to chirp: "Can't miss you, you won't go away." A particular clench of Kent's jaw is added to the grip on Jack's mental checklist of Kent's tells. A small quiver of Jack's stick is added to Kent's checklist of Jack's.

The Aces' center skates into his position opposite Jack. The lineman drops the puck.

More hockey is played. The chirping starts to go the other direction.

"I bet your cat misses you."

"My friends miss your cat. It's been a while since she instagrammed anything."

"I don't actually follow your cat on Instagram." That, oddly, seems to get the biggest reaction from Parson.

Parson's play begins to deteriorate as well. Perhaps in the spirit of fairness, Ron and Jimmy comment on this.

At the end of the first period, Parson's goal is the only one on the scoreboard. The mood on both teams as well as in the stands is muted.

Ron Chatterly begins the intermission recap by commenting, "This is not shaping up to be the hockey game we were hoping for tonight." Jimmy McDermott agrees. "No, Ron, it's not. Let's take a look." Jimmy and Ron helpfully narrate and analyze the highlight reel of the first period, which consists of several replays of Parson's goal followed by a litany of missed opportunities on both sides; they are more critical of Zimmermann. The young woman on the couch concludes, as a result of this, that she needs to sit on the floor instead of on the young men (who nearly threw her onto the floor anyways), and she also needs to mute the television during the intermission.

In the Falconers' locker room, Jack grips his knees, trying to calm the shaking of his hands. Alexei 'Tater' Mashkov notices this, and asks quietly, "You okay, Zimmboni?" Jack's instinct is to deny that anything is wrong; he fights that down and admits, "Parson's really pushing my buttons." Tater thumps his shoulder, and nods. "Will see what we can do." Tater has a brief word with Christophe "Marty" St. Martin, who looks over at Jack and nods as well.

In the Aces' locker room, Kent tries rolling his poker chip across his knuckles, but they are clenched too tightly to be successful at the trick.


End file.
